Old Friends
by naggeluide
Summary: Almost twenty years after Sozin's comet, the Gaang gathers for a photograph before setting out on an adventure. A mysterious source of chi-blocking drugs threatens the stability of the United Republic, and they're all looking forward to a little action to relieve the stresses of adult life, where big changes are on the horizon. Or, the story behind the Old Friends poster.
1. The One with the Photograph

"I see them! I see them!" Aang exclaimed as Appa swooped down to land on the docks at Harbour City.

"Yes, dear," Katara said sleepily, emerging blinking from beneath the blanket into the winter sun. The air where they traveled had been chilly, but even in winter the Fire Nation was never cold enough to require furs. Still, she was glad for the extra warmth lent by Momo's tail around her neck.

"I smell breakfast!" Sokka cried, barely waiting for the bison to touch down before sliding down from the saddle. Aang beat him to the ground in a rush of air and slammed into the two waiting figures like a whirlwind.

"Zuko! Toph! It's been too long!"

"Ugh, Twinkletoes, give a woman some warning!" Toph didn't resist the hug, however, but managed to free an arm to punch the Avatar in the shoulder in greeting. She felt a flurry of wind above her head and barely ducked in time to avoid a flying lemur. "Momo! Boy am I glad Aang didn't leave you with those young monsters." The lemur, disappointed at missing its target, circled around Zuko instead, looking forward to grabbing something shiny but couldn't find the usual crown catching rays of morning sun. He settled for perching on the hilt of a sword slung over the Fire Lord's back; the guard was dulled to a brassy shine from use, but it seemed like the best Momo would get for now, since he knew that all that shiny metal encasing Toph had a strange tendency to _move_.

"Good to see you too, Aang," Zuko said, making only a token attempt at loosening the stifling embrace. He'd long ago given up on dignity in the face of the Avatar's enthusiasm.

"How's Mai and Izumi and Druk? Is Druk flying ok? I could stay for another lesson if he needs, you know I thought actually Appa might be a good teacher too, although the way he airbends is probably a lot different than flying with wings …"

The Fire Lord extracted himself and Toph from Aang's embrace while the airbender rambled on, turning to greet their other friends.

"Hey Sugar Queen!" Toph greeted Katara, allowing herself to be hugged again. "Still not a morning person, huh? We've been up and waiting for hours! And by we, I mean Zuko."

"I never sleep much when the moon's almost full," the waterbender explained. "But at least it's winter here."

Toph laughed and shook her head. "I bet Bumi's got his hands full babysitting Kya right now."

"Yee-Li is helping out while we're away, as usual. I'm really starting to appreciate the Air Nomad custom of having temple staff help raise the children - Zuko! Get over here and give me a hug before my brother spills sauce all over your clothes!"

The Fire Lord looked slightly worse for the wear as he stepped over from where Sokka had been simultaneously devouring sticky meat-skewers and trying to introduce Zuko to the new urban custom of the "manly fist bump and hug" combination move. Momo had gotten caught in the crossfire and flown indignantly back to his usual perch on Aang.

"Hi Katara," Zuko said simply, hugging her as requested. "It's so good to see you."

Toph had managed to wrestle a few meat skewers away from Sokka. "So, the gang's all here. Time to find some bad guys and bust some heads. Let's do this!"

"We have plenty of time to catch up first," Aang complained, accepting the tofu skewers Zuko quietly handed him.

"Story time is for bison-back! I'm sure Appa wants to hear everything, too." Toph retorted.

Zuko cleared his throat and resisted rolling his eyes. They'd had to have this conversation once every few years for the past ten years now. "Actually, we're going by sea. With a ship."

"What?!" Aang cried. "Come on, Zuko. It'll be just like old times. And he's not that old, really!"

"Appa might not be, but look at us, Aang! We're hardly kids anymore, and we definitely weigh a lot more now! We can't ask Appa to carry all of us and our supplies. And there's still no such thing as bison daycare."

"You all know I think Aang's brain was perma-frosted into thinking he's twelve," Toph said dryly. "But Sparky's got a point. You've all put on a bunch of weight since becoming parents. And Sokka and I have put on a bunch of muscle from wrestling Republic City into shape."

She and Sokka high-fived over the chorus of hurt protests from their friends.

"The younger councilors call it a "dad bod" over in the City," Sokka stage-whispered to Toph.

"I can't see," the blind earthbender hissed.

"I'm not sure exactly what it means, anyway," Sokka admitted. "But I kinda doubt it means Avatar 'somehow-ripped-despite- being-a-vegetarian' Aang and Fire Lord 'my-other-child-is-a-dragon' Zuko."

Toph cackled and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll have your own chance at finding out what it means for yourself in a few months."

Sokka brightened, proud. "Still, it's too bad Suki couldn't come along. If this had just been six months earlier…"

A polite cough from a young lady in Fire Nation red broke into their conversation.

"Pardon me, Fire Lord, but the royal archivist did say you had agreed that we could test the glass-portrait apparatus before you all departed."

Zuko looked over from where he was directing Aang to airbend their supplies from Appa's saddle onto a small ship.

"Ah, yes. He did mention something about that - Himari, is that right?"

The young lady bowed. "And my assistant Reo." She stepped aside, revealing a large wood-and-metal box mounted on a wheeled trolley. A young spectacled man emerged from the dark cloth attached to the back of the apparatus, blinking in the sudden light.

"It's a new invention based off of some special plates developed by Earthen Fire industries," Himari explained. "It uses sunlight to make an image, so it will only take an instant."

"Izumi is crazy about these things," Zuko said to the others. "The portraits they make are really quite nice. She says she can't wait until they're small enough that she can carry one with her all the time to take pictures of herself wherever she goes." He shook his head, disapproving.

Katara chuckled. "Give her a break, Zuko. We were all a little vain when we were thirteen."

"I wasn't," he said dryly. "One of the few advantages of - never mind," Zuko trailed off awkwardly, avoiding his friends' eyes.

Over the years they had all become used to the little uncomfortable silences that resulted whenever one of them casually referenced their childhood traumas. By unspoken agreement, they tried to keep their personal demons at bay until the more intimate evening hours, gathered around a crackling campfire or huddled in a snowbank watching the aurorae. As Katara put it to the adults in her family, if it was something that would make Azula laugh, don't let it see the daylight.

Sokka had, as the Meat-and-Sarcasm guy, often resigned himself to the additional role of breaker-of-awkward-silences. "So. How do we do this portrait thing?"

Himari's professional demeanor allowed only the slightest shade of relief to pass over her face. "If you could just stand over there, facing the sun… " She sketched out the position with her gestures, directing them a few steps this way or that as indicated by Reo, who was bobbing in and out from under the black cloth, until the group was finally in position. Then she jogged back to join her assistant under the shroud.

"This is so nice!" Katara exclaimed, wrapping an arm around her husband. "Just think, Aang, now the kids will have a chance of seeing what their parents looked like before they give us both grey hair!"

"I don't get why I need to be in it," Toph grumbled, from where she was standing next to the couple. "It's not like I'll ever be able to appreciate it anyway."

"Himari's a student at the Archives, she said this was important to her mastery project," Zuko explained.

"You could look happier about it, buddy," Sokka said, taking in the Fire Lord's closed-off stance. He flashed his own brilliant smile as he clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Like this!"

Zuko's arm shot out to re-arrange Toph's fingers from where her outstretched hand was indicating exactly what she thought of all this pomp and circumstance; she scowled but didn't immediately resume her previous gesture. Zuko crossed his arms again, but glanced at Sokka and let the corner of his mouth tilt up. "Better?"

Sokka started to laugh. A white flame flashed, followed by a puff of dark smoke, and Himari stepped out from under the black shroud. "I think we got it!" she said happily.

"That's it?!" Sokka exclaimed, jaw dropping. "A whole portrait in one second? Amazing!"

"That's it!" Toph echoed, given no warning as she bent the earth beneath their feet to propel them into the air. Their feet hit solid metal next, on the ship's deck. "Fire her up Sparky, let's get outta here!" she yelled, ignoring the annoyed vibrations emanating from the person next to her.

The photographers took their subjects' escape in good stride, simply bowing in the Fire Nation way, thanking them and wishing them a good journey. Zuko returned the courtesies before heading to the cabin to start the engines, while Aang hastily flew back to the dock to peel Momo off of himself, wish him and Appa farewell and leave last-minute instructions for their care. Toph, Sokka, and Katara finished putting away the rest of the supplies and lashing them down. Aang returned in a flurry of wind that left the ropes which had been securing the ship to the dock in neat coils on deck.

From the cabin entrance, Sokka pulled out a stack of wicker chairs that was in stark contrast to the grim grey steel of the deck. He arranged them in a semi-circle before settling into one with a sigh, stretching his arms behind his head. "Team Avatar back together again. Or at least, most of it. Just me and my bros … and my sis." His face screwed up into a pensive expression, before brightening again. "You know what, this actually reminds me a lot of my bachelor party. Hey Zuko, please tell me you brought beer?"

"Easy there, Councilor," Toph chided, uncharacteristically. "This is a serious mission of much seriousness to Republic City and the entire world! As chief of police I forbid drinking that shitty Fire Nation beer on the clock!"

Sokka groaned. "Come on, Chief, we've got nothing to do all day but travel! If we can't drink today then when can I have my last hurrah before fatherhood strikes?"

"Good point," Katara said. "But I agree with Toph. No one can drink Fire Nation beer after being spoiled by the better grains in the Earth Kingdom."

Aang caught her eye and grinned, then called out to the bridge: "Zuko, bring out the fire whiskey! We need to make a toast!"

A few minutes later, the Fire Lord emerged with an amber bottle in hand. Katara poured small portions into glasses before Zuko and Aang ignited the liquid with their fingertips.

"To Team Avatar!" they cried, except for a self-conscious Aang.

"To old friends!" he toasted, feeling the drink warm him, but not as much as the feeling of being surrounded by so many people he loved and hadn't seen for far too long.

"To old friends!" they echoed.

**A/N:** If you haven't seen the Old Friends/New Friends poster, take a look now via Google!


	2. The One where Sokka Plays a DrinkingGame

They'd missed out on so much in their youth by not being able to have strategy meetings while slightly buzzed from good whiskey, Sokka thought as he spread out the map on the table they'd brought to the deck. He could almost feel the creative juices flowing - or maybe he just needed to pee. He had, naturally, brought a few bottles of his favorite Adventure Beers along for the trip, and had been using them to cool his tongue after sips of fiery whiskey. Privately, he had also established a few rules that would make this meeting a lot more entertaining. Damned if he was going to tell the rest of the group about his game though.

"Republic City and Fire Nation intelligence reports indicate that a group with connections to the Bamboo Union is manufacturing a chi-blocking drug in the foothills northwest of Republic City." Zuko assumed charge of the meeting as easily as breathing. A younger self might have felt threatened by that, Sokka reflected, but no one could question that the firebender, for all his awkwardness, had been born and raised to be a brilliant leader. "My experts have confirmed that such a drug can only be made with the root of boushuuboku, which grows exclusively on a few islands on the Fire Nation's easternmost borders. " Zuko indicated a handful of red specks on the map. "I'll explain the significance of that information given the current context in a moment. But first, Chief Bei Fong, Councilor Sokka. If you could give a quick summary and update on the latest intelligence from Republic City?"

"That's just Toph and Sokka to you, your highness," the blind earthbender drawled, and Sokka took a surreptitious sip. Zuko being overly formal: one drink. Toph calling him, or anyone else, out one it: not worth a drink, she did it all the time and Sokka didn't want to be drunk before the meeting actually finished.

"Sorry, force of habit," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck apologetically. Sokka noted that the gesture didn't make the Fire Lord look any less intimidating, but it helped set him at ease nonetheless. Not quite into _Zuko relaxing: two drinks_ territory, but with any luck they might get close.

"I'll speak to the police business, and then Sokka can fill you in on the ramifications," Toph started. "The Bamboo Union is, as we all know, a criminal organization with suspected political interests in the United Republic. We aren't sure yet who they're backing or trying to corrupt, because they're a bunch of slippery bastards and they're really good at covering their trail. And even when we find a trail, more often than not it leads to someone with a rock-solid alibi and no traceable suspicious dealings. Hell, half the force is convinced the Bamboo Union doesn't even exist!" She threw up her hands in frustration.

Sokka knew all this already, so he listened with one ear for his cues, mainly combinations of swear words in different degrees of severity, while daydreaming about Suki and how cute and glowy she'd gotten as her belly rounded.

"Our information hasn't changed much since we were last in contact, but I can give more details now that I'm sure it won't get intercepted. A few weeks ago, a student asked for an escort home from the university where she'd been working late at one of the chemistry labs. Ming Na was frightened but didn't give any specifics to my colleague. The officer assumed it was a harassment issue, but when she dropped out the next week and went back home to Ba Sing Se, he got a little suspicious because one thing she had mentioned was that there was a lot of turnover in that particular group. Anyway, long story short, one Professor Yannuck had evidently recognized that one of his student's discoveries had huge ramifications for distributing drugs in water. He bullied the student into a non-disclosure agreement and basically stole his work, then took sabbatical. None of this was too far outside the realm of academic drama, but we managed to put two and two together when we got a tip-off about a mild chi-blocking serum. Normally if such drugs are available at all, it's as a pill. They don't take well to water." Toph frowned.

Sokka was starting to become mildly worried about his friend. Toph barely censored herself when addressing the City Council, was she really so considerate of Aang and Katara that she had cleaned up her language now? That didn't sound like Toph, as unkind as that thought was.

"There's no solid evidence that any of this is connected to the Bamboo Union, besides some vague trends we've noticed in rhetoric about 'institutionalized bender superiority'," Toph continued.

Sokka was appeased as he took a sip for her use of air quotes, a gesture he'd taught her himself, although he was annoyed that she'd chosen to use them for that particular phrase, as if she didn't believe it held any truth.

"A chi-blocking drug that can be quickly distributed would be a game-changer for anyone with that political agenda. We didn't manage to confirm the existence - or effectiveness - of this serum, but we know there's only a handful of people who might have the knowledge to both make and weaponize this drug. It's a surprisingly short list." Toph laid a paper on the table. Sokka silently turned it right-side-up, revealing the faces of the eight suspects. He took another drink.

"Of course, we might have missed someone," Toph continued. "But I'm no chemist and the people who are have assured me that 'keeping the solution stable', whatever that means, is an extremely delicate job on scales larger than a single beaker. This is probably our best shot at finally pinning down some Bamboo Union activities. Professionally I have to say that doing recon is far more important than breaking up the operation, since we don't know how deep or far the roots of this particular bamboo plant spread." She snickered at her own pun, then paused.

"So that's the interest of the law-and-order folks over in the City. Sokka, however, has me convinced that we need to do more than just gather information." She paused. "And since you're my best friends, I'll let you know I've got a personal reason to favour that option as well." Toph scowled, and took a breath. Her next words came out in a rush. "Remember Kanto? That guy I've been seeing for a while? Well, that didn't work out, and it ended pretty badly, so now I'm going to beat up a bunch of bad guys and after that when I feel better you can ask all your questions."

Sokka glanced around, surprised as the rest of them, and didn't know whether to drink or not to this revelation, and set down his glass. He'd dropped in on Toph and Kanto just last week and all had seemed well. So maybe her early departure to the Fire Nation, instead of waiting for Aang and Katara to fly up from the Southern Air Temple, had been less due to a need to hash out new details with the local intelligence and more of a need to escape. She probably had a lot of pent-up anger to work through, Sokka thought, eyeing Zuko for fresh bruising. Age had only increased the ferocity of their bending duels, but the firebender looked spry enough, so maybe they hadn't had a chance to spar yet. Sokka's eyes flicked back to Toph. "That's rough, buddy," he ventured, hands ready to jump to guard as Toph bristled. Sokka glared at Katara fiercely as she started to open her mouth; the waterbender thought better of it and simply poured another shot of whiskey into a glass. Aang lit it wordlessly - Sokka could only imagine the amount of self-control that cost the airbender - and slid it across the table to Toph, who slammed it back before gracing them with a grateful smile.

Sokka took a long drink in sympathy, and also because 'Sokka diffuses awkward situation' warranted two drinks, and anyone but Zuko causing said situation also got two drinks.

"So, what this all means for Republic City," Sokka started, sad to be talking rather than imbibing so soon. "Normally, we wouldn't get so worried about a few chi-blocking drugs floating around in the black market. After all, they can be medicinal for benders who struggle with - ah, mental stability, among other things. But what we're looking at isn't some university kid trying to make extra money from their basement. Organization on this scale means a target market - or worse, involuntary consumers - of thousands of people. There's a couple ways this is really bad news for Republic City."

He counted them off on his fingers.

"First, and best case scenario, not counting whatever big misunderstanding Aang thinks this might be - "

"It's just not safe to develop the technology near a big population center and they really just want to help sick people stop their bending for a while until they get better and can't hurt anyone by accident anymore?" broke in the airbender hopefully, his indefatigable optimism earning Sokka another drink.

" - someone is being very greedy and is taking a big investment risk that developing this drug on a large scale is really going to pay off. Perhaps their initial funding is coming from the Union, which is why they're starting with chi-blocking drugs, but the end goal is to be able to mass-produce actual useful drugs - or let's face it, illegal drugs bring in more money so other illegal drugs too - that are easier to distribute and hide as liquids. Legal or illegal, the police and the city definitely need to know about it, so we can get the proper regulations in place, or start figuring out what to do about a massive influx of illegal drugs to the market."

"Second, the existence of the chi-blocking drug on a large scale is used as a tool for the Union or a threat to their enemies. Think about the police force - the elite are almost exclusively metalbenders, and most of the other officers are benders of some kind. So are most security forces and personal bodyguards. Groups that have a lot of power, like the Dai Li. The Fire Sages. I could go on, but I think you get the picture." He looked around at the serious faces. They really needed to lighten up, maybe next time he would distribute the drinking game rules before they started…

"Last, and worst case scenario - someone needs to drug a whole lot of benders to do something very evil. Could be as large-scale as a coup, or an anti-bender revolution. We all saw the chaos that happened in the North when the moon went dark for a few minutes, or when the eclipse passed over the Caldera. Imagine the power that would come from being able to make that happen _on command_."

Silence fell, and as much as he wanted to take an irreverent slug from his bottle, Sokka restrained himself. This was, after all, a very real and very dangerous possibility.

Aang cleared his throat. "Do we have any cause to believe that the anti-bender rhetoric is still so pervasive? That they're still so well-organized after we took down the so-called Business Council more than fifteen years ago?"

Sokka was going to need a new beer for this one. He knew that Aang and Katara at least would have to grow to understand, given that they had a non-bender child, but he and Suki never felt the gulf that separated them from their friends as keenly as when they discussed this topic.

He sighed. "There's always going to be conflict between benders and non-benders as long as the existing socioeconomic and political systems, many of which inherently favour benders, remain in place." Sokka was impressed with how succinctly he'd managed to put it, especially considering he was one beer and an unknown amount of whiskey in, but this was a conversation he'd had many times before.

"I'm surprised there hasn't been large-scale organization to address this yet, especially in the Earth Kingdom," Zuko added unexpectedly. "Maybe they can't decide if they want to fight for bender equality first or gender equality," he mused.

On second thought, Sokka had never had this conversation with the Fire Lord, but probably because he assumed someone who grew up neglected because he wasn't a bending prodigy was a product of a very bender-dominated culture. Sokka wondered if this surprising perspective warranted a drink.

Zuko was clearly uncomfortable at the looks his companions were giving him. "What?" He said defensively. "Most of my people live on islands small enough to walk around in a day. We're separated from each other and surrounded by our opposite element. If everyone doesn't develop their skills, in bending or something else, whether they're man, woman or child, we wouldn't survive. The one major exception is the Fire Lords, but then all monarchies have a bunch of ridiculous rules limiting the succession."

"Well. Perhaps you'd best update us on why your oh-so-egalitarian absolute monarchy of a nation has cause to be concerned about these drugs then?" Sokka asked, more aggressive than intended.

Either Zuko's sarcasm detector wasn't working or he chose not to take offense, because the Fire Lord just agreed and brought their meeting back on track.

"The eastern islands where the boushuuboku is grown are still extremely volcanically active. They're actually the caldera of Fukutoku-Okanaba, whose active cone is underwater. It's constantly erupting, but it's pretty deep so the islands – the caldera walls that are what's left above sea level – stay fairly stable, but what's between those islands is always changing as magma cools into webs of tubes all over the caldera floor and some even form beyond onto the dormant peaks of the same ancient chain."

Toph, entranced, let out a strange choked whine. Sokka side-eyed her, wondering what was wrong.

"Sorry," she said, sounding a little breathless. "What you described is basically earthbending porn. Even if it _is_ underwater. Why have I never heard about this before, and how do I buy a vacation house there?"

"They're not very easy to get to, due in part to the ever-changing seafloor. There used to be a naval outpost in the deeper waters outside the islands, but since the war's end only one shipping route goes even close. We have slightly better access with balloons but the air currents can be difficult to navigate because of the constant heating and cooling of the caldera waters, especially in winter when the temperature difference is enhanced."

"So how does anyone even get this root off the island without everyone knowing about it? As I recall, the regulations for its refinement and export are extremely tight." Katara asked.

"Divers and kayaks," the Fire Lord responded simply. "By navigating the tunnels, a skilled diver can reach unobstructed water very far from shore. And it's pretty easy for a kayak to reach a larger vessel undetected. The diving is very dangerous, of course, and the routes and air pockets change unexpectedly, but for a valuable enough cargo - or piece of information - it's worth it."

That actually made a lot of sense to Sokka, who recalled how Zuko had swum into the North Pole and treated it like no big deal when asked about it later. Apparently everyone in the Fire Nation trained breath control to an absurd degree and Zuko wasn't even an exceptional swimmer by their standards, even though Sokka, who was no slouch himself in that department, had nearly drowned following the older boy through the Ember Island lava tubes when they were younger.

And if smugglers could come and go using these routes, so could spies. "It must be a huge hub for any network needing to get sensitive information into or out of the Fire Nation," he realized.

"Exactly," Zuko said. "And the most I can do to stop this smuggling, whether of goods or information, is damage control. The islands have always been fairly autonomous because they've had to be particularly self-reliant just for people to survive. In a way, my interest in this mission is similar to Toph's. Without solid proof tracing the boushuuboku smugglers back to certain merchants or officials, I can't figure out who might be corrupt or trading information."

"What secrets do you have that divers are willing to risk their lives for?" Aang wondered, and Sokka took a drink as Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"The divers take the risks because it pays, and there's still not a lot of jobs over there, despite our best efforts. Who commissions the divers, how they got their information, what it is and what they want to use it for - well, there's a thousand answers to that that don't have anything to do with state secrets."

"I think we've established that we first really need to find out what's going on here, and who exactly is behind it all," Katara broke in. "The question now is, what do we need to do catch all these people red-handed?"

Zuko acknowledged her with a nod. "Toph said it best. Recon, recon, recon."

"That's not what I said," Toph grumbled. "What I said was therapeutic violence."

They all ignored her. Sokka asked the obvious question. "So, how do we do this? Especially since we only have a vague idea of who and what we're looking for." He took a nervous drink as all eyes turned to him, expectant. "Just because I'm normally the Idea Guy doesn't mean that I always have ideas," he said defensively.

"Come on, I can't be the only one who's thought about this," he chastised, looking around the circle. Surely they didn't expect him to come up with something brilliant right now, when they had so few leads in the first place.

"All I can recommend is that we operate at night, which, since it's the northern winter, gives us a big window of opportunity, " Zuko supplied. "Assuming a large part of the people involved are civilian scientists it's the best way to limit the number of people who get hurt. An obvious downside to that is that Aang and I have to avoid firebending, depending on how likely it is to draw attention. In any case, it would be foolish to rely entirely on bending when going after people manufacturing a chi-blocking drug."

"Well, that explains why you're armed to the teeth," Sokka said dryly, eyeing not one but two pairs of dual dao strapped across Zuko's back and the curved katana at his belt.

Zuko stared back, expressionless. "I'm on _vacation_," he stressed, and absurdly it made sense to Sokka that in Zuko's household, holiday wear might mean steel instead of sun hats. Fortunately, the firebender seemed to be aware that that was not normal, as a smirk slowly made its way onto his features. He unbuckled the katana and scabbard from its place. "And anyway, Sokka, this one is your sister's."

He tossed the weapon and belt to the waterbender, who caught it expertly and lovingly unsheathed the blade with a familiar grip. Sunlight caught the tip where layered steel waves broke it to its spectrum like mother-of-pearl.

Sokka's jaw dropped. He was sure he hadn't had enough fire whiskey to be hallucinating. That blade was a spirit-sword or he was a chicken-pig, and what was that doing in his sister's hands? "Wait, what?! Katara! Tell me that isn't yours!" Because _Katara being Cool_ was up there with _Aang being Mean_,_ Toph being a Proper Lady_, and _Zuko being Happy_ in the list of improbabilities that earned Sokka a whole lot of drinks.

Katara flushed slightly pink but met his eyes, before sheathing the sword and glancing to her husband, who wore an expression of resigned neutrality. "This is Yofune's Claw, one of five sister-blades named for that dragon. A gift, from the Lady Ursa, some years ago."

"Not a gift," Zuko said quietly. "A token of kinship, from one mother to a mother-to-be, in gratitude for the life of her son, twice over."

Sokka sputtered. Even he had heard the Fire Nation legend of the sometimes-sea-serpent Yofune and how she was slain by one of the many maidens she'd abducted to feed on. He couldn't believe his sister not only had an awesome sword with a cool name, but she'd never even told him about it. "I never got anything for saving your sorry hide," he complained instead to the Fire Lord, jealous.

"I think the scales of that life-debt tip heavily in my favour," the firebender said, deadpan, although his gold eyes sparkled at Sokka's reactions. "And I wouldn't be so hasty to challenge her either, if I were you," Zuko added, predicting Sokka's next move. "She knows how to use it. I made sure of that."

"It's not like I had much else to do, with Aang trapped in the spirit world for so long," Katara said, only a little bit defensive. "I was still pretty agile up until seven months pregnant, and I needed a way to work off my frustration."

Sokka almost forgave her then, remembering how awful it had been for her, sidelined from the action as he, Toph, and Suki scoured the world for a way to rescue the Avatar. Navigating the spirit world was tricky enough for one spirit from one body, much less two that were sharing the same space. He could probably fault Zuko for spending his convalescence teaching his sister the sword instead of quietly recovering from a mortal wound as instructed, but if the firebender hadn't pushed himself so hard he might not have been fighting fit when they needed him to help free Aang. Still, that was no excuse for keeping a secret, and Sokka could allow himself a few more moments of petty jealousy.

He held out his hands, fingers wiggling. "CanIseeitnowplease," he exhaled, and Katara laughed and handed it to him.

"It's more of a museum piece, really," she said. "Which is one reason it's lived in the Fire Nation since I had Bumi, aside from the general non-compatibility of babies and sharp objects."

"I'm sure Bumi and Kya know better by now," Zuko said, to which Toph pointedly declared there was a big difference in the home of a pacifist monk and a healer compared to any place inhabited by both Zuko and Mai.

Sokka barely registered their conversation, lost in the fine craftsmanship and perfect balance of the blade. Well, perfect balance for a slightly smaller set of hands than his own. A museum-piece, indeed; and though Katara might not remember, he'd actually been to a Fire Nation museum or two of his own volition, and any weapon worthy of a place in those cases was a masterpiece durable enough to be deadly centuries after its forging. Like the two-hundred-year-old war-fan Zuko had gifted Suki with for their wedding, that had allegedly belonged to Avatar Kyoshi herself. In comparison, his own gift of an inscribed pearl dagger was a cheap trinket, although Sokka knew what it had taken Zuko to part with it.

He really shouldn't envy his sister, Sokka knew. It was one of a set of five, certainly not a one-of-a-kind like his space sword. But his sword didn't have a name yet, and not for lack of trying; he just couldn't seem to find a name that was both simple enough for news crews to spell and catchy enough for them to remember. Intellectually, he knew it was probably for the best. After his experience wielding Sozin's longsword Infamy in the spirit world - not to mention what had happened to Zuko, though Sokka still blamed that on the White Lotus and Piandao for thinking named spirit-steel dao were an appropriate coronation gift for an unsuspecting teenaged ruler - Sokka knew these things could come with unforeseen consequences. He couldn't think of what these might be for a weapon passed down through Avatar Roku's bloodline, but by now he knew that the manner in which they were given - or taken - was extremely important to how the associated spirits reacted, so the fact that it wasn't exactly a gift should keep Katara safe from any unpleasant side-effects.

"The point is," the Fire Lord declared, as Sokka debated testing the sharp point of the blade he was handling, "All of us need to be prepared to fight without bending. We don't know how far they've progressed in weaponizing this drug, but they'd be idiots not to equip darts, arrows, small knives and the like with a coating."

Katara took over. "We don't have a sample so we don't know about dosage or the exact effects yet. Worst case scenario, it's like taking a hit from a chi-blocking master. Complete temporary loss of muscle control, in addition to loss of bending. However, all known chi-blocking drugs don't work that way. You maintain body control, but you're out of touch with your element." She glanced at her brother. "And they're completely harmless to non-benders."

"Any ideas on how it would affect the Avatar State?" Aang inquired.

Katara shrugged. "Hard to say. It probably couldn't stop the World Spirit from taking over your body, but how would it react if it couldn't touch the elements?"

Aang pondered. "Spirits don't think like us. I don't know if it would understand … controlling the elements when manifesting through me is as instinctual to the World Spirit as breathing is to us. Or even more. Like our hearts beating. We don't even have to think about that to do it - but if it stopped we would think we were dying ."

"As much as I hate to say it, in this situation - which is very much a worst-case-scenario, by the way - our two most powerful benders are our greatest liabilities," Zuko said.

"I resent that, but it's true," Toph growled. "Twinkletoes sucks at hand-to-hand and the closest thing he has to a weapons experience is hitting people with his airstaff accidentally. And without my bending all I can do is try and hear where people are and punch them."

"Well, that's all very doom-and-gloom," Sokka said. "But some of us have managed to do just fine without bending our entire lives. And by some of us, I mean me." He knew it was petty but he couldn't resist. "We'll make sure to split up smart when the time comes. Keep Aang and Toph apart, and one of them each with either me or Zuko."

Zuko's eyebrow quirked up at him. "You've already gotten that far in your plan? We don't even know if we'll find anything yet."

"Well, no," Sokka admitted. "But it's never too early to start training with your strike team."

"Or for dinner!" Toph interrupted. "Seriously, am I the only one getting hungry over here?"

"But we don't talk shop after dinner and we're on a roll!" Sokka protested.

"So's my stomach," replied the earthbender.

"Fine then. Dinner people go make dinner, and in the meantime, I'll find us a drug lord."

"I'm blind," Toph said lazily, kicking her feet up on the table (Sokka had learned long ago to put a glass plate over the maps for this very reason) and leaning back in her chair.

There was a collective 'Really? You don't say" sigh from the others. Sokka wasn't the only one who took a drink for that one.

"Toph. You're the best cook out of all of us," Katara stated. "And almost everything in the galley is made of metal."

"Fine," Toph grumbled, "But only cuz none of you lazy sighted people know that taste is the most important sense when cooking."

"Have it your way," Sokka said. They all knew Toph loved to cook, but since having a domestic side clashed with her persona - and she was as stubborn as a rock - it always took a little persuading to get her into the kitchen.

He went to rummage in his bag for a moment while Zuko rolled out the enlarged map of the area northwest of Republic City and Aang gave Toph a verbal description of where they had stowed things in the galley. Sokka found what he was looking for; he swirled a structured grey coat around his shoulders and set a pair of spectacles artistically on his nose. "Druggy Mc Drugface, reporting for duty," he said. Aang let out a longsuffering sigh, and Toph rolled her eyes as she got up, yet another gesture Sokka regretted teaching her. Katara and Zuko wore matching expressions of "I'm too old for this shit" which one of them had learned from the other along the years. "Pass the whiskey. Now, if I was a crime boss kidnapping chemists to force them to work on my drugs - and I am - where would it make sense to build my secret base?"

* * *

**A/N:** Hi, scientist here. However, not a geologist or chemist, so I took a lot of liberty.

Also, I might have gotten a bit carried away in building the backstory to this fic, since I'm certain a bunch of life-changing crazy adventures have happened in their adult lives too. The working title for the Spirit World Incident story is 'The Rescue', although it has developed a lot of arcs and will not be coming soon ;)


	3. Where They Walk Off Their Hangovers

**Chapter 3: The One Where They Walk Off Their Hangovers**

* * *

"Oh, my head," Katara heard her brother groan as he emerged from the cabin, blinking despite the overcast morning. "Katara! Heal my hangover, pretty please?"

To be fair, it was a request she hadn't heard in a while. Katara couldn't help a small smirk as she swished the water around the rice grains, then bent the murky water back out.

"Really showing your age there, Snoozles," Toph cackled, causing him to grasp his head and make shushing motions.

"Try eating a good breakfast first," Katara said, unsympathetic, bending some fresh water into the rice pot. She glanced to the bow where the only two firebenders were facing east, presumably meditating, and sighed. "Sokka, can you get a fire started?"

"Isn't that what our friendly neighborhood firebenders are for?" he shot back.

Normally, yes, Katara agreed. But unless Sokka wanted to be Aang's meditation buddy, they were going to have to do without one of their walking fire-starters for now.

An irritated, definitely unfriendly voice came from the front of the ship. "There's a gas stove and spark rocks in the galley, you know. Not every marine is a firebender."

Well, it sounded like she wasn't the only one who failed at meditation sometimes. Katara was happier than she would admit to have an excuse to skip out on the usual fifteen minutes of morning meditation she attempted for Aang's sake, and usually it was nice to have Zuko around to take over that chore. Apparently meditation was just as important to firebenders as airbenders, though more to avoid spontaneous combustion of things in their vicinity than to seek spiritual enlightenment.

"I thought it would be nice to eat on the deck, like old times," Katara said, not adding that she'd already stepped into the dimly lit galley that morning and between the slight headache, the heat from the nearby engine room and the permanent grease smells, she'd felt pretty nauseated.

With an annoyed grumble, Zuko twisted from his cross-legged position to look back, narrowed his eyes, and shot a stream of flame into her kindling pile. Katara yelped, then cursed. Zuko ignored her.

From the shade of the cabin, Sokka snickered. "Let it be known, ladies and gentlemen, that the Fire Lord cannot handle his own whiskey, and is kind of a dick about it."

Katara hid a giggle as she settled the pot higher above the flame so the bottom wouldn't burn. It was certainly true - she'd been surprised to find out that, despite his years at sea, Zuko had barely touched alcohol until about five years ago. It stood to reason that he wouldn't voluntarily consume toxins when he had a long list of enemies who would like nothing more than to force-feed him a deadly one, but it was nice to see him let his guard down among friends, even if it meant a return of the Angry Jerk the next day.

Sokka was hardly any better with a hangover, though, despite the much greater quantities required to put him in that state. Rumor had it that his drinking prowess bordered on the legendary, though she was pretty sure he'd started those rumors himself. She could believe he'd challenged the Rough Rhinos to a drinking contest to determine the fate of the border town of Nanqu, but it was a bit of a stretch to think that he had actually won.

She'd missed her brother, though she would be the last to admit it. If pressed, she'd probably say she missed their island cabin near Republic City, which hadn't been used for more than just a quick vacation in the past couple of years. But as nice as life at the Southern Air Temple was, and as good a place as it was for raising kids - even non-airbending kids - what Katara had really missed was _this_. People who truly knew her, as simply and entirely Katara, not just as a mom or a teacher or a healer or the Avatar's wife. Here she could bend powerfully and Toph would just grin and deflect her with a wiggle of toes, she could say something snarky or even a bit mean and Sokka would still manage to one-up her, she could make a mistake and no matter how big, Zuko would be there with a badly-remembered Iroh proverb and wordless understanding.

The vibrating pot lid broke Katara's reverie and she rapidly snatched it off before the contents within boiled over.

Toph sniffed the air and groaned. "Burnt breakfast again? What are we, twelve?"

"It's not burnt!" Katara protested. Not as far as she could tell, anyway. She dropped in a few extra seaweed flakes just in case.

"Besides, a little carbon is good for the digestion," Aang added helpfully. Meditation time must have ended earlier than usual today. Katara wondered if that meant Aang was also feeling the effects of last night; she could still barely tell, since he behaved practically the same drunk or sober. Air Nomads, as she'd learned, didn't even count plum wine as alcohol, since to them all fruits had to either be at least a little bit fermented to survive the long journeys up to the Air Temples, or immediately baked into pies. Which explained a lot about Aang's childhood tales, in Katara's opinion, but she'd been quick to install an ice room in the Southern Temple for keeping produce fresh after hearing about that.

"Is that what she tells you?" Toph asked, grabbing a bowl and spooning in a lump of porridge despite Katara's protests that it needed another minute. "Huh. Not as bad as it smells."

"Just give me food already," Sokka groaned, following suit. "What idiot scheduled a hike for the afternoon anyway? And were they the same person who stuffed a herd of sky bison in my head and then woke me up at this spirits-forsaken hour?"

"Don't look at me, you're the Schedule Guy," Zuko reminded him, slightly less grumpy than before. "But when you find the sky bison person, let me know. I've got a fireball or two for them."

"Anyway, the best cure for drinking is to walk it off!" Aang announced loudly, to the discomfort of most of his friends.

"Don't pay attention to the waterbenders," Toph grumbled through spoonfuls. "It's cheating if you can properly re-hydrate yourself after a night out."

"The trick is to remember," Katara said wryly. As she had indeed, because she was still a responsible adult and like most people she didn't enjoy headaches, even if she'd still managed to wake up with one. But they didn't need to know that, and the little chuckle that went around the breakfast circle was satisfying.

"Didn't you say it will take most of the morning to go up the channel once we get there anyway?" Aang asked Zuko, who nodded over his bowl. "That's plenty of time for you all to start feeling better!"

"I feel so much better already," Sokka replied, but Katara knew that if he was back to his usual sarcasm, some of that statement was probably true.

"Guess you don't need my hangover cure after all," she was quick to point out.

"Hey! That's not what I said!" Sokka protested.

"We might actually get there faster, the widths of some of these currents are unpredictable at this time of year," Zuko said, standing up and fetching a spyglass. Katara eyed his half-eaten breakfast and reminded herself that she didn't need to remind him to eat.

She was especially glad of her decision when a few seconds later, the unmistakable sound of the Fire Lord retching over the side of the ship was heard. She winced, sympathetic but not about to offer a quick fix or else everyone would start demanding one. She and Aang had been the first ones to turn in last night, and the noise from the deck hadn't died down for a long time after that. It was a miracle if they were still on course.

"Burns going both ways, doesn't it?" Toph called, in her own version of sympathy, then let out a loud burp. Her milky eyes widened as she slapped a hand over her mouth with a muttered 'oh, shit' and ran to join Zuko at the railing. Katara's forehead wrinkled a bit now in worry; Toph wasn't known to have this much trouble after drinking. Or was the food really that bad? It tasted fine to her.

"What did you do to them?" she accused her brother.

"Don't look at me," Sokka defended himself. "It's not my fault they kept losing at drinking games." He changed his tone, clearly attempting to wheedle a favor out of her. "So, how about that hangover cure?"

Katara sighed, and tossed him a water skin.

"Thanks, Katara! You're the best!" Sokka cried, and started guzzling eagerly. His face changed, and Katara smirked. "Hey! Is this just normal water?"

"Still the best hangover cure!" Katara chirped as she picked up an additional skin to take to the two at the railing. She took care to add a pinch of her trademark powdered mix of salt and herbs to it as she walked over, though; it looked like Toph and Zuko could use a little help. "Hey, is that land?" she asked, squinting at the horizon where she thought she spotted a break in the low-lying morning mist. She traded the water skin for Zuko's spyglass and took a look. "It is land!"

"Land ho, sailors!" Aang cried, at her side in a flash for a turn with the spyglass.

Katara joined in on the collective wince at the volume. This was going to be a long morning.

* * *

Sokka tugged on the dark green robes to straighten them, and undid his wolftail, letting the longer strands fall over the close-shaven sides. They'd be walking through the forest, in the Earth Kingdom, so it made sense to take a few basic steps to blend in. Aang looked almost comical, the way the light blue tattoos stood out against green-and-brown fabric; it was still warm enough that he didn't need to cover his head with the dark hooded cloak. Katara and Toph fit right in, wearing relatively recent Earth-inspired styles from Republic City under waterskins or over metal armor. Sokka debated on whether or not to make a comment on Katara's hairstyle, clearly done by Toph in what Sokka thought was way too many braids. He decided to save it for a better moment. And anyway, Zuko …

"Is that a Jasmine Dragon waitstaff uniform?" he asked the Fire Lord, who was wearing relatively a simple tunic cut of jade green edged with copper over dark brown. The frogs closing the tunic suggested jasmine blossoms, and a small embroidered dragon was placed on one side of the chest, while the other side held a character of slightly darker fabric from where someone had carefully removed the embroidered name: "Lee".

"It's my only good set of Earth robes," Zuko defended, shaking out his topknot and starting to braid back his dark hair. "And I haven't been there to help out there in a while, so it probably doesn't hurt if these get singed. Besides, the uniforms have probably changed by now."

"You leave out the obvious reason Uncle doesn't let you do that anymore - everyone on the planet knows what the Fire Lord looks like now. A change of clothes and wearing your hair down isn't going to cut it like it used to." Toph ran her hand over the embroidered dragon fondly, then tugged on Zuko's sleeve hem for a sniff. "Mmm, still smells like Uncle's signature ginseng blend!"

"Really?" the firebender seemed intrigued. Sokka hated to ruin the giggle-inducing sight that was Zuko smelling his own clothing, but he'd just spotted the perfect alcove to conceal the boat.

"Heads up crew! There's the spot," he cried. They'd been steaming against the current all morning so they could pretty much cut the engines once they reached the eddy and drift back into place, but it didn't hurt to have water- and earthbenders on call in case of unexpected sharp rocks.

A few minutes and an impeccable landing later, they were ready to go ashore. Aang obligingly airbent their packs to a clearing in the brush ahead of them, then flitted off the deck, followed closely by Zuko, to start securing the docking ropes to anchors Toph had raised on the bank. Sokka rolled his eyes at the pair and did a last check of the ship before joining Katara and Toph in walking down the earthen staircase. They had a fairly long walk ahead of them, even if he managed to wheedle Toph into Earth-sledding them over the worst bits, and he wasn't eager to start off the trip by setting off his bad knee.

Sokka hefted his pack and strapped it to his shoulders and hips, careful to leave his sword accessible. They weren't expecting to encounter any other people, much less trouble, but you could never be sure. Just because the others were treating this as a mini-vacation from world leader responsibilities, parenting challenges, or romantic setbacks didn't mean he was going to let them get off task.

Up front from where he'd taken point, Zuko suddenly froze. Sokka frowned and palmed the handle of his sword. Trouble already? How unlucky were they?

"Quiet! Everyone, over here!" hissed the Fire Lord urgently, his attention fixed on a … pile of twigs? Sokka crept closer, senses on high alert. And almost beheaded a startled, squawking flying creature that erupted from the brush near the riverside, angrily calling its brood to get away from the intruders. He glared at a cackling Toph, who was pointing in roughly the direction of his face.

"Turtle-woodducks!" Zuko exclaimed happily, as Aang literally clapped his hands in delight. Sokka watched two of the most powerful men of his generation coo over the admittedly adorable procession of fluffy emerald green and brown turtleducklings and shook his head.

"There are so many birds in this forest, we can't stop and admire all of them," he complained. A quacking duckling stumbled over his boot and he crouched down to help it. "Hey hey, little guy, careful. You want to go around," he chided, and its feathers had no right to be that soft, and its waddle so cute as it raced to catch up with its siblings.

Serious mission of much seriousness, Sokka reminded himself. Starting …

…right after this damned delightful turtleduckling procession reached the water.

* * *

They'd been walking for an hour now, and Toph was bored. She was really tempted to bend herself a nice earth-chair to carry her along as she lounged, but since its formation the United Republic had been strongly adhering to its Sustainable Bending policy, which imposed heavy fines for moving around protected forest floors. Killjoys. Her attempt to legally change her species to 'Badgermole' had subsequently been declined.

"Have you two thought about baby names yet?" she heard Aang asking Sokka from up ahead. Since the ink had dried on the Republic charters, Aang hadn't lived in the City, but he was a frequent enough visitor that they often forgot that the Avatar was sometimes just as out of the Republic City gossip loop as the Fire Lord. Toph decided to casually listen in; she had some great suggestions for Sokka (if twins, obviously Meat and Sarcasm), but he'd purposefully never asked her.

"A little," Sokka confessed. "Mainly we've decided not to go with either traditional Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom names. Even though the names in Suki's family tends towards their Fire heritage, and Kyoshi Island is neutral. We also don't want a trendy fusion name, since who knows how those will be received in fifteen years, so… yeah. Know any good Air Nomad names?"

_Twinkledee and Twinkledum?_ Toph supplied internally. Why could she only think of twin names, anyhow?

"Do I ever!" Aang exclaimed. "Boy or girl? Although fun fact, it doesn't really matter a lot - since you were either a monk or a nun, it was totally fine to have both a 'Monk Gyatso' and a 'Nun Gyatso'. Anyway, we do have a really good one picked out in case we get an airbender, but if you want, Katara would probably let you have it." His tone lost a bit of its bounce. "I don't think she thinks we'll ever have an airbender, but they say third time's the charm, right?"

Toph snickered at Sokka's slightly pained stance. She was sure that Aang's innocent and hopeful carriage had almost let Sokka forget for a moment that they were talking about the monk knocking up his sister. _Only the third time?_ Toph cracked to herself as Sokka, clearly thinking along the same lines, choked out: "Well, you know I'm not opposed to more nieces and nephews."

Now seemed like the perfect time to announce her presence to the conversation. "So, Twinkletoes, you and Katara been just talking about it or trying?"

Sokka groaned. "May I remind you both that that's my sister you're talking about, and I am definitely sorta really old-fashioned."

"Gah, Water Tribe. I've gotta say, the Earth Kingdom is where it's at for not being tied down to just one partner." Of course, this group was so full of prudes that no one would dare ask. Except Suki, but she wasn't here. "Although the Fire Nation's not so bad either, even if they tend to get super judge-y about it cuz of the whole 'my honor' thing."

"That might just be Zuko," Sokka observed. "That and the fact that the Fire Lady could and would skin him alive if he … you know."

"If I what?"

Sokka's expressions had to be priceless today, Toph thought. The others always seem to forget Zuko's creepy-good hearing. "Nothing!" Sokka cried. "Go back to - whatever you and Katara are talking about."

"Actually, we'd pretty much finished discussing the adjustments to the international right-to-treatment policies. What's going on here? New combination bending tricks?"

"Ugh, no, you nerd," Toph chided. "We're talking about you guys' sex lives, because it's clear that I'm not getting any right now." Or that was where she was trying to direct the conversation because, hello, super bored with all the walking over here left too much time for her to be in her own head with Kanto's stupid face that wouldn't just _leave_. Except that he had.

"No we're not!" Aang protested, turning red enough to match his usual robes. "Wait, really? Is that what you two were talking about?"

"Awww, babe, it's cute how you still blush when people talk about sex," Katara crooned. Toph appreciated how much less uptight Katara had become after giving birth for the first time, but she still was far from Toph's level. Suki would usually listen with interest to Toph's more raunchy tales, and return them on occasion, but never when Katara was around, for obvious reasons. Now Mai - there was someone who did _not_ like being bored, and could describe exactly how not bored she was without a crack in her porcelain visage as even Toph's ear tips would begin to redden.

Still, Toph rather enjoyed how the men were tensing uncomfortably in various states of embarrassed husband/brother or Zuko's default coping mechanism of setting imaginary things on fire.

"May I just quickly list the reasons why that is a really bad idea," Sokka said to Toph. "As much as I enjoy watching the present company squirm."

Toph knew the look on her face was pure evil.

"Number one, that's my baby sister and my brother-in-law whose airbender-fertility issues you're talking about. Number two, what Suki and I do is awesome and resulted in the greatest human being yet to be born, and also it's none of your business. Number three, you know Zuko's not allowed to have any more kids, so it's kind of mean to even bring it up, and most importantly, number four - NO ONE wants to know AGAIN about how kinky metalbending can get!"

"Well, now that you mention it - " she chirped, well prepared to go on.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Toph," Zuko broke in, swiping for the back of her collar like she was twelve again and he could lift her up and shake her.

Toph dodged indignantly. She wasn't a child anymore, but he might still be able to pick her up and she wasn't about to chance it.

"And yes, I am aware of my poor word choice."

Toph (and Sokka, too, she suspected) had been a second too slow to point that out for him, and she dearly wanted to make up for it with an offhanded remark about how she wasn't the only one to appreciate select bits of metal in the bedroom. Although that might betray her friendship with the Fire Lady, and Toph didn't want to lose her source of amusing blackmail information on Zuko and piss off the one non-bender who might be able to kill her (with all due respect to Sokka and Suki, who wouldn't have the resolve to actually carry it through) in the same breath.

Annoyed, she kicked the ground. A distant squeak sounded as the displaced earth propagating from her strike liberated something with four legs and two tails from its den.

"Toph!" Aang complained. "Respect wildlife! Leave no trace, remember? There's over a hundred endangered species in this forest!"

Toph scowled and focused on putting the earth back where she'd found it, presumably endangered creature and all. "You guys are no fun at all."

But she was careful only to stomp along in the normal way after that.

* * *

Sokka estimated they were maybe half an hour's walk from their destination by the time he finally started to feel like his usual self. He pulled an arm over his head as best as he could while wearing a pack and stretched to the side until he felt a satisfying pop in his spine, slightly startling his current walking companion. Sokka sighed in contentment, feeling a little like he'd just woken up, and addressed the other man. "So, Zuko, I didn't get a chance to ask you last night, but how'd you manage to slip away from the throne and family so easily?"

"I'm the Fire Lord, I do what I want," Zuko responded in a tone borrowed from Toph, but they both knew that statement was far from true. Sokka took the attempt at an impression as an indicator that his friend was at least feeling better now. "Besides, I thought we talked about this last night."

Had he really been that drunk? Sokka rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "Maybe I don't exactly remember asking that last night," he clarified.

"Oh," the firebender responded, then shrugged. "There's a big trade summit in Ba Sing Se at the moment, and Mai was going to handle that for the crown anyway, and Uncle is always happy to see Izumi. Although I don't know if she'll spend as much time playing Pai Sho with him as he wants, she wants to attend a series of lectures at the university about creating sustainable urban housing. They dropped Druk off with his godparents on their way over, he's been doing great since Aang taught him to fly, but he gets tired easily and I'm worried that he might be missing out on the way normal dragons learn."

Sokka had long gotten over the weirdness that was Zuko's immediate family. Who were Sokka's extended family too, technically, since his brother-in-law was Druk's honorary uncle which made him… the dragon's uncle-in-law? Too complicated, Sokka thought, and decided to focus on the human child instead. "Lectures, huh? That's a big step for Izumi, I thought the last tutor you found could finally keep up with her."

Zuko's proud smile was just as dorkish as it had been when they were sixteen. "She's so brilliant, Sokka. And she'll be a teenager soon, as she keeps reminding me. I think she's trying to wear us down until we let her go to university at fourteen instead of having to wait."

"Ah, teenagedom. Cue the Era of Phases," Sokka nodded sagely. "Mine were pretty bad. It was 'go to war', then when that failed, 'defend the tribe' followed by 'see the world', then 'survive the world', then 'stop the Fire Lord', and at some point I thought blue ink tattoos were really, really cool."

Zuko chuckled. "Izumi's not one for phases though. At least, not yet," he amended. "Druk on the other hand … why don't Ran and Shaw tell me these things? Are they really so ancient they've forgotten what it's like to be a hatchling? Or do they think Mai and I just won't get it because we're human?"

Sokka was intrigued. The last time he'd seen the youngster he'd been shedding his first set of teeth (which apparently would happen again at least five times more as he grew), and the whole palace had been running around on short nerves and no sleep for the entire month. "What's happening now? I thought things had calmed down once he learned to fly." Calm down being a relative phrase, Sokka knew, figuring that Zuko's current agitated state indicated by steaming nostrils was probably nothing remarkable in the royal household.

"Well, it's way better than his teething phase," Zuko had evidently had a similar train of thought. "It's just - well, he's a predator, right? So he wants to kill most new things he encounters at the moment. Which is fine, but he's still so young, you know? And I'm not sure he really knows solidly the difference between 'prey' and 'not prey' yet, and I'm so worried he'll make a mistake and do something he regrets…"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like how you were when we first met," Sokka interjected dryly. "Angry with a side of murderous."

"He's seven!" Zuko snapped. "And he's not angry, he's just a dragon! Besides, there's a difference between murder and killing people."

Sokka could see why they were the ones talking about this. No matter how close Aang and Zuko were, there were some things about each other they just didn't understand, Zuko's last statement definitely being one of them.

The firebender continued. "And yes, I did want to kill a lot of people when we first met. But just because I wanted to didn't mean that I did! I mean, I did a little, though almost exclusively when the other person tried to kill me first. But that's the difference. If you're the predator, then it's your choice if you kill or not. If you're being treated like prey, the only way to stop a predator is to kill it. You don't have a choice any more."

Sometimes, Sokka thought, there was absolutely no question as to who the young dragon's father was. He was starting to wonder how he could extract himself from this conversation, which was rapidly both going out of his depth of parenting knowledge, and heating up. Literally. The narrow path was threatening to become a sauna in their vicinity.

"So what you're saying is everything should be ok as long as no other person or animal treats Druk like prey?" he tried.

"I don't know!" Zuko cried, and there was definitely more than a little smoke slipping from between his fingers now. "In the end, he still has to make a choice. And what if he chooses wrong? What if he doesn't understand what killing is to humans, and how can I understand what it is to dragons? All I know is what it does to a person, especially when they're so young. Azula used to … the turtleducks … she was only four, and I …"

Frustrated, the firebender tilted his head back and exhaled a stream of flame.

Time to get out of here. Definitely. But apparently Sokka couldn't stop poking things that shouldn't be poked today, so he asked: "So, uh. You got around to teaching him that yet?"

Zuko's gold-eyed glare would have pinned Sokka to the nearest tree if possible.

"Or that?" Sokka squeaked. "Ok, you don't have to answer, I'm gonna go now." Sokka knew that when Zuko was inside his own head like that, nothing short of punching a bunch of fire around, seeing his family safe and happy, or sufficient time could get him to snap out of it. Only one of those things was a real option at this point, because even though Sokka was feeling better he wasn't quite up to sparring right now.

"Remember." He pointed to himself as he backed away. "Not prey."

Well. He was definitely awake now.

* * *

Katara could barely remember the last time she'd set up an actual tent. Before they had met Toph, probably - or a little after, since it had taken Aang a while to get his earthbending to that level. And she and Sokka were so used to their tents back then they were reluctant to trade them for earth shelters anyway. Besides, fewer bugs crawled out of tent walls, even if tents were heavier to carry. Katara was almost tempted to side with Toph on her opinion of the Sustainable Bending movement, but just because it might inconvenience them didn't mean it wasn't the right thing to do. Looking back on some of the things she'd done in her youth made her squirm uncomfortably now. There were probably a bunch of river habitats that were never the same after she'd passed through.

Anyway, she might be a master waterbender, but she was a Water Tribe woman too, and that meant she knew how to set up a tent. Lightweight materials, new alloys, optimized designs and all. It was just a tent. She could figure it out.

Ten minutes and an un-helpful inflating by Aang of the cloth bag that was supposed to form the main part of the tent later, Katara was ready to admit defeat. She could practically feel Sokka watching her and laughing, lounging outside the tent he was sharing with Toph and Zuko.

"Don't worry, hun, I'll just nap outside for now. It's really not that cold, and I'm sure you'll figure this out by nightfall." Aang offered.

He really ought to choose his words better, Katara thought, taking a deep breath to avoid a snappy retort. _He means well_, she reminded herself, _it's just been a long time away from the Water Tribes and he's forgotten that we pride ourselves on skills like this. _

Sokka, however, had overheard and chose to come to her rescue. "No naps yet! Let's run over the plan again first. We can draw up a watch schedule, too, although that might be weird with night-time operations."

Katara gladly abandoned the pile of fabric and metal that was their shelter, determined to ask Toph to wrangle it into something actually resembling a tent later. "Sounds good to me." Especially since Sokka had left his bag of disguises on the boat.

"All riiight," Sokka grinned and rubbed his hands together once they'd all gathered. "A master plan in three phases, starting tonight. Phase One: Recon. Zuko does his Blue Spirit-y stuff, or just his usual sneaky stuff, and gets us the location and layout intel. Aang will go along as the extraction team. Then we make an informed decision of whether or not to move base camp, and start on Phase Two: Infiltrate. Toph, Katara and myself will infiltrate whatever needs infiltrating to either confirm or reject the presence of our target. Toph gets us in and out, I'm the eyes for identifying known suspects, and Katara's the medical person who might have a better idea of what we're looking at."

Toph yawned audibly. "Skip to the good stuff, please. When do I get to beat people up?"

"I was getting to that," Sokka replied. "Phase Three: The Bust. Presuming Phases One and Two go without us being detected in any way - as boring as that might be, Toph, but I've got to stress it's very important, because we know so little at the moment - we then decide on the best way of taking down the operation and its leaders. Which I'm sure will involve a bit of fun."

"It had better, or I'm going with a different tour operator for my next holiday," Toph grumbled, eliciting a laugh from the group.

"Not your most elaborate plan ever," Katara commented to her brother.

He shrugged. "Too little intel. I'm expecting Phase Three to be completely awesome, if that helps."

"And as safe as possible, too?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

"Sorry, sis, no guarantees."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I've never actually had to fight anyone without bending before," she admitted.

"Hopefully you won't have to," Sokka said, sympathetic. "But just in case, and also because you're suddenly capable of keeping secrets and a thousand times more interesting - would you do me the honor of a spar?"

Katara swallowed her instinctual protest . She didn't keep secrets from him, at least not on purpose, but it would have been awkward to explain.

"Sure," she limited her reply to, and went to get her sword.

"Is it safe to use that here?" Sokka called after her, as the others, all thoughts of naps forgotten, scooted towards the edges of the clearing to make room for the show.

"I gotcha, Katara," Toph hollered, and to Katara's horror, the pile of tent poles on the ground bubbled and melted into a fair facsimile of her katana.

"Toph! That was our tent!" she cried.

"I'm blind, not stupid!" the earthbender retorted. "No way was that a tent!"

Sokka and Aang almost fell over each other laughing.

"Just put it back!" Katara cried, biting back a laugh herself.

"Fine," Toph agreed, spitefully rearranging the metal back into poles and - oh, so _that's_ how they were supposed to go together. Even Zuko was laughing now, and fondly calling Toph all the names that Katara was too nice to use.

"Anyway, it's perfectly fine to use spirit steel in the physical world, isn't it, sweetie?" Katara asked.

"Yes, it's fine, dear," Aang replied. "No rifts or portals to worry about here."

Katara ignored the sobering effect that reminder had on the group and unsheathed her weapon. "Ready, big brother?"

Sokka smiled, a wolf-like grin to match the tail he'd secured his hair into. "I'll go easy on you 'cuz you're a bender."

Oh, he's going to regret that, Katara thought, and slid into her first stance.

Steel clashed, and the match was on.

* * *

**A/N:** It seems that for this story I'm foregoing my policy of having a buffer of at least one chapter written before I post... but this one has gotten suddenly complicated because realistically SO MUCH has happened in the years that I've got to work out a lot of details and keep them straight. Which is fun, but also leads to a lot of rabbit holes... so expect only very sporadic updates.


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